HfS Blueprint: Digitally Enabled Contact Center 2016

WHAT THIS BLUEPRINT REPORT COVERS

This Blueprint is a spinoff of the previously published Contact Center Operations Blueprint, focusing on the digital elements of contact center BPO, highlighting 12 service providers in the contact center services market. Digitally enabled contact center is not just about supporting the digital channels; it’s also the design and strategy for how digital impacts the way enterprises handle customer service in a “customer first” organization.  

Trademarks of a digitally enabled contact center include:

• Use of digital channels, such as social, web self-service and chat
• Use of automation
• Design of how digital channels enables the customer journey
• Talent that can handle communication on digital channels as well as take contextual data from multiple sources
• Analytics for channel mix/usage and self-service

KEY MARKET DYNAMICS

Contact center operations are undergoing a dramatic transition as a result of digital consumer preferences. Buyers are in various phases of embracing mobile and social customer communication, and service providers are seeking ways to continue operational excellence while adding value and innovating to meet the expectations of their clients’ growing end consumer expectations. 

Enterprises are more often now looking at customer experience in a much more strategic light, putting greater scrutiny and expectations on the service providers. Now clients are looking to them to add value to the customer experience. As this trend gradually evolves, service providers are becoming more of the strategic partner rather than a vendor, making buyer and service provider relationship paramount; clients entrust their image and brand to the service provider. Contact center operators are embracing the opportunity to deliver value beyond cost reduction by transforming the contact center to an engagement and profit center with sales through service, increased levels of CSAT and customer loyalty. 

Two major trends impacting the market today are (1) the goal of omnichannel and (2) the role of talent. Increasingly, the goal is to create an omnichannel customer viewpoint, which cultivates customer relationships across the lifecycle, preserving context across channels and personalizing service. Along with this comes a shift in the role of talent, where contact center employees require more sophisticated skills, in particular, to support digital interactions.

WHO SHOULD READ THIS REPORT

Customer Experience Strategists, Contact Center Services Buyers and outsourcing managers in all industry sectors.

SERVICE PROVIDERS WE DISCUSS

• Aegis
• Concentrix
• Genpact
• HGS
• HPE
• Infosys
• Sutherland
• Tech Mahindra
• Teleperformance
• TeleTech 
• WNS 
• Xerox

WHAT YOU’LL KNOW AFTER READING

This HfS Blueprint Report discusses how contact centers are pivoting to support an increasingly digital savvy end customer base. Readers will learn how digital channels like social media, chat, and web self-service are evolving in contact center service provider and buyer relationships, as well as the impact that automation and analytics are having on contact center operations and their potential for the future.